Quick reference

AWS

Rent servers, storage and managed services instead of running your own.

Difficulty: intermediateTime: 12+ hours70 of 70 sections written

AWS is a collection of managed infrastructure and platform services — compute, storage, databases, networking and more — that you rent and configure through an API, instead of buying and operating the hardware and software yourself.

Sections

70 sections
  1. AWS Fundamentalsbeginner22 min
  2. AWS Accounts and Organizationsintermediate24 min
  3. AWS Regions, Availability Zones, and Resilienceintermediate26 min
  4. IAM — Master Thisintermediate32 min
  5. AWS Authentication and Federationintermediate28 min
  6. AWS CLI, SDKs, and APIsintermediate24 min
  7. AWS Networking — Core Modelintermediate26 min
  8. Subnets, Routing, and Gatewaysintermediate28 min
  9. Security Groups and Network ACLsintermediate28 min
  10. DNS and Network Connectivityintermediate30 min
  11. Load Balancingintermediate30 min
  12. EC2 — Compute Fundamentalsintermediate30 min
  13. EC2 Storage and Lifecycleintermediate26 min
  14. Auto Scalingintermediate28 min
  15. ECS — Containerized Applicationsintermediate30 min
  16. EKS and Kubernetes — Working Knowledgeadvanced25 min
  17. Lambda — Serverless Computeintermediate30 min
  18. API Gateway and API Front Doorsintermediate25 min
  19. S3 — Object Storageintermediate30 min
  20. S3 Security and Data Lifecycleintermediate30 min
  21. CloudFront and Edge Deliveryintermediate20 min
  22. Databases — RDSintermediate25 min
  23. Aurora — Working Knowledgeintermediate20 min
  24. DynamoDBadvanced30 min
  25. ElastiCache / Managed Cachingadvanced40 min
  26. Messaging — SQSintermediate32 min
  27. SNS and Event Fan-Outintermediate20 min
  28. EventBridge and Event-Driven Architectureadvanced20 min
  29. Kinesis and Streaming Conceptsintermediate26 min
  30. Step Functions — Workflow Orchestrationintermediate20 min
  31. AWS Security Servicesintermediate12 min
  32. KMS and Encryptionintermediate22 min
  33. Secrets Managementintermediate10 min
  34. CloudTrail and Auditabilityintermediate25 min
  35. AWS Config and Governanceintermediate25 min
  36. WAF and Edge Securityintermediate25 min
  37. Monitoring — CloudWatchintermediate40 min
  38. Distributed Tracing and X-Ray / OpenTelemetryadvanced35 min
  39. Logging Architectureintermediate25 min
  40. Infrastructure as Codeintermediate40 min
  41. CI/CD on AWSintermediate35 min
  42. ECR and Container Supply Chainintermediate25 min
  43. ECS Deployment Architectureadvanced30 min
  44. Serverless Architectureadvanced30 min
  45. AWS Networking at Senior Leveladvanced35 min
  46. High Availability and Reliabilityadvanced35 min
  47. Disaster Recoveryadvanced35 min
  48. Performance and Scalabilityadvanced35 min
  49. Cost Optimizationintermediate30 min
  50. Sustainabilityintermediate20 min
  51. AWS Well-Architected Frameworkintermediate25 min
  52. Operational Excellenceadvanced25 min
  53. IAM and Multi-Account Security Architectureadvanced30 min
  54. Data Protection and Backup Strategyadvanced30 min
  55. Cloud Architecture Patternsadvanced55 min
  56. AWS for Django / Python Backendsadvanced35 min
  57. AWS for Full-Stack / React Applicationsintermediate35 min
  58. AWS Disaster and Failure Testingadvanced35 min
  59. Production Debugging on AWSadvanced40 min
  60. AWS Service Quotas and Limitsadvanced30 min
  61. AWS Governance and Taggingintermediate30 min
  62. Infrastructure and Configuration Driftadvanced35 min
  63. API Reliability and Idempotency on AWSadvanced35 min
  64. AWS Senior-Level System Designadvanced40 min
  65. AWS Architecture Review Checklistadvanced45 min
  66. AWS Interview-Level Questionsintermediate50 min
  67. Priority for a 5-Year AWS Engineeradvanced14 min
  68. Practical AWS Projectsadvanced55 min
  69. AWS Learning Orderbeginner12 min
  70. Target Outcomeadvanced30 min

Why it matters

  • It removes the operational work of running physical infrastructure — racking servers, patching database engines, replicating storage across buildings.
  • The shared responsibility model still leaves configuration, identity and data squarely on you, so using AWS is not the same as being secure by default.
  • Almost every other backend topic here — Django, FastAPI, PostgreSQL, Docker — eventually needs to run somewhere, and AWS is the most common answer.
  • Reading a service by its pricing dimensions and its quotas, not just its name, is what separates "I used AWS once" from being able to operate on it.

Where it is used

  • Hosting web backends and APIs — EC2, ECS, Lambda, API Gateway
  • Managed databases and caching — RDS, Aurora, DynamoDB, ElastiCache
  • Object storage and content delivery — S3, CloudFront
  • Infrastructure as code and CI/CD — CloudFormation, CDK, CodePipeline

The big picture

How the pieces of AWS fit together
scopesauthorizesaccess intocarriestraffic tois observed anddeployed by

Account

your billing + resource boundary

IAM

who can do what

Networking

VPC, subnets, routing

Compute + data

EC2, Lambda, RDS, S3

Operations

CloudWatch, IaC, CI/CD

  • Account — your billing + resource boundary
    • leads to IAM (scopes)
  • IAM — who can do what
    • leads to Networking (authorizes access into)
  • Networking — VPC, subnets, routing
    • leads to Compute + data (carries traffic to)
  • Compute + data — EC2, Lambda, RDS, S3
    • leads to Operations (is observed and deployed by)
  • Operations — CloudWatch, IaC, CI/CD